


Breathless

by raes_ramblings



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Anxiety, F/M, M/M, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-12 16:33:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28763394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raes_ramblings/pseuds/raes_ramblings
Summary: “A kiss paired with a tight hug, knocking the breath out of the person being hugged”-Ding dongDing dongThe out of place, far too cheery jingle of the morning announcement rang out of the TV, pulling you from your restless, fitful sleep.It was seven already? You were sure that Byakuya had said he’d come to meet you at 6:45 before this morning’s meeting.Last night you’d had a particularly nasty anxiety attack, and he’d assured you that he’d stay with you today to make sure you were faring as well as possible.Yet you’d been left to wake up to the sound of Monokuma’s morning announcement, with your boyfriend running at least fifteen minutes late. That couldn’t be right, Byakuya Togami was never late. And there, as if right on cue, that incessant worry tugged at you, choking the air out of your lungs.
Relationships: Togami Byakuya/Reader
Kudos: 40





	Breathless

##  **Ding dong**

##  **Ding dong**

The out of place, far too cheery jingle of the morning announcement rang out of the TV, pulling you from your restless, fitful sleep.

It was seven already? You were sure that Byakuya had said he’d come to meet you at 6:45 before this morning’s meeting.

Last night you’d had a particularly nasty anxiety attack, and he’d assured you that he’d stay with you today to make sure you were faring as well as possible.

Yet you’d been left to wake up to the sound of Monokuma’s morning announcement, with your boyfriend running at least fifteen minutes late. That couldn’t be right, Byakuya Togami was never late. And there, as if right on cue, that incessant worry tugged at you, choking the air out of your lungs.

You squeezed your eyes shut again, taking three deep breaths and trying to calm yourself down a bit like he would always tell you to. There had to be a rational, non-fatal reason that he hadn’t come to wake you up. 

Everything at this school had you completely on edge, and it didn’t take much anymore to send you right into a panic attack. Your stomach was in a consistent state of nauseating uneasiness, and your chest often burned in relentless anticipation. You were well aware that you had gone into full paranoia at that point, and while that wasn’t unprecedented in this _killing game_ , you also knew that being skittish and distracted wasn’t doing you any favors. If you had any intention of defending yourself and doing your part in this investigation, it was necessary to stay as rational and level headed as possible. 

Taking another deep breath, you tried to think of all the other possible reasons he wasn’t here. Maybe he had gotten distracted by a sudden lead on the mastermind, or maybe he’d been held up by Toko or her equally-as-obsessive counterpart. While you weren’t fond of her being so infatuated with _your_ boyfriend, that idea was still much more pleasant than your initial assumption. 

One thing you were sure of was that waiting timidly in your room wasn’t going to solve anything. He’d probably just gone directly to the cafeteria to meet you, and you’d misunderstood what he’d said last night. That was entirely possible, it was hard to focus when the anxiety took over. 

That’s what he did, right? It had to be. He wasn’t hurt, you’d just gotten confused. 

After taking a moment to convince yourself of that, you stood to your feet and headed to the cafeteria yourself. 

Though, he wasn’t there either. Granted, he hadn’t shown up to a few of the meetings recently, but it was odd that he hadn’t come today after specifically promising you he would. While he usually did whatever he wanted, he was always a man of his word. Subconsciously, your fingers restlessly toyed with the hem of your shirt as the sick feeling in your stomach slowly made itself more prominent. 

“Ugh! This is why it’s a pain having such flaky friends!” Aoi groaned, sounding more annoyed than concerned. For once, you hoped he had just flaked out on you. 

“We have no choice but to wait for everyone else to arrive.” Sakura was right. It was only fifteen after seven; the others were probably just late. With the general bloody-minded attitude around lately, it wasn’t unreasonable to think that they just weren’t being rigid with timing anymore. Maybe you’d gotten more confused than you’d thought, and he said he’d meet you after the meeting. Right. That had to be it, right? There was no need to panic yet. So you hesitantly sat down next to Makoto at the table and attempted to quell the increasing tightness in your chest.

~

“Hey, it’s already eight.. They’re over an hour late…” Aoi finally pointed out, cutting into the silence to say what everyone else was thinking. The hollow small talk had died off fairly quickly, leaving the five of you in an uncomfortable quiet as you all tried not to think about what had actually stopped the five others from coming. 

“Why has nobody else come?” Sakura’s voice was softer than usual. 

“Something’s happened.”

“What?” Makoto sounded shocked as he processed what Kirigiri had said, but surprise was the last thing you were experiencing.  
  


“We let our guard down. We were so focused on Alter Ego that we forgot about Monokuma’s ‘incentive.’ There’s no way it just ended there.”

A tense silence fell upon the room. Nobody had wanted to be the one to say it, but you’d all pretty much come to a unanimous conclusion. 

“We should go looking for them, the ones who didn’t show up.” With nobody objecting, Kirigiri continued. “It’s probably best if we split up and search. (Name), you take the dormitory. Check everyone’s bedrooms. Naegi, you search the first floor. I’ll handle the second floor.”

“Alright, then Sakura and I’ve got the third floor!” Even in a situation like this, Asahina maintained her bright demeanor. It would’ve been reassuring if you hadn’t been so preoccupied with the knot of dread tightening in your chest. 

“Don’t take any unnecessary risks. If anything happens, call for someone immediately.”

You barely waited for Kirigiri to finish before taking off towards the dorms. Automatically you made a beeline to Byakuya’s room, pressing his doorbell button urgently. Each second that passed without a response felt like an hour. Why wasn’t he answering? It wasn’t like him to sleep in and it wasn’t like him to just snub you like this. Would he snub the others? All the time. But he’d never been dismissive of you, and right now you felt all too aware of that. For the first time, you hoped that he was just being his typical egotistical self. This would be the only time that you would be glad to find out he’d chosen to go to the library instead of choosing to come see you. If he had gone to the library, that meant he was probably still there, oblivious to the concern of his classmates. If he hadn’t, though, and he hadn’t made it to your room this morning…

Refusing to let yourself finish that thought, you took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. You’d just ring his doorbell again and check the others’ rooms, then go upstairs to find him in the library yourself. 

You reached out to do so with a trembling hand, but a sudden piercing scream made you freeze. Suddenly you couldn’t feel your hands. It was definitely one of the girls, but in your sudden peaked panic, you couldn’t identify the voice completely. You wanted to say that it had been Aoi, but the more you thought about it the less sure you were. Someone had found something upstairs, and you hadn’t gotten the chance to check the library yet. 

_Someone could’ve found something in the library._

Your neck burned and your legs had joined your hands in that cold, buzzing numbness. 

No, you didn’t have the time to think about it; you didn’t have time to give into the anxiety attack clawing at your chest. You just had to get upstairs. After convincing your body to move again, you began to run. If you focused on moving, you wouldn’t have to think about what your mind insisted on thinking about. _Just get upstairs_. 

Though you tried to keep yourself from assuming the worst, intrusive thoughts of what could be awaiting you filled your mind. What if it had been Kirigiri who screamed, and not Aoi? What if she’d checked the library and found the next victim, _your boyfriend_ , dead and cold? 

You could see it play out all too well in your mind- _you’d be the last to get to the library, and everyone else would be standing around the crime scene in remorseful silence. He’d been too cocky and given the wrong person the perfect opportunity. You’d been too complaisant and now he was gone_. 

Your legs had gone completely numb as you mindlessly raced up the stairs and down the hallway, but you barely noticed at that point. Your mind was too preoccupied with _just getting to the library_. 

Bracing yourself for the worst, you swung open the heavy wooden door. 

But the gut-wrenching shock never came. A warm wave of relief rushed over you as you looked into the room. Contrary to what you’d been expecting, the room was empty save for the familiar blond at one of the bookshelves. There Byakuya stood with a book, completely safe and entirely unphased. You could feel your face again, only now noticing that it was hot and damp with tears. Before you even realized it, you had rushed to him, impulsively pressing your trembling lips to his and throwing your still tingling arms around him as tightly as you could. You gasped as you practically collapsed against him. Finally you could breathe again. 

He coughed out a bit from your tight grip and dropped his book, startled. “What exactly do you think you’re doing?!" 

"Togami, you asshole! I thought it was you!” Your uncharacteristically harsh words made it clear that you were mad at him, but you didn’t let go. You didn’t care about adhering to his general rule against public affection, you were just glad he was still alive. Clinging to him like this helped you to solidify that he was okay. 

“ _What_ are you talking about?” Normally he would’ve immediately condemned your use of profanity, but your clearly shaken-up state had him picking his words a bit more carefully. You were already crying, he didn’t need you sobbing because he’d scolded you. 

“You bailed on me this morning, you didn't come to the meeting, you weren’t in your room when we went to find everyone else, and then someone upstairs screamed that someone had been hurt-”

“Tch,” his scoff cut you off your rambling, “You really thought I would be dumb enough to let any of those idiots hurt me? Don’t be so stupid." 

He kept up his air of superiority and arrogance, but his body language betrayed him. Instead of pushing you off of him, he sighed reluctantly against your hair before returning the tight embrace. It was tight enough that you almost couldn’t breathe, but it didn’t matter. You were in his arms again. You hadn’t lost him. Suffocating from his embrace was so much better than choking from an anxiety attack. 

Feeling you relax into his chest after a moment, he waited for your shaking to fully subside before he spoke again. “Compose yourself before Toko makes her inevitable return. From what you said, there’s enough of a scene right now as it is. I don’t have the time to deal with the fit she’d throw if she found you hanging off of me.” 

You nodded meekly and wiped at your face with your sleeve. He stopped you though, gently grabbing your wrist with one hand before using the other to dry your tears with a tissue from his pocket. "Don’t do that, you’ll just get your sleeve covered in your own tears and snot. That’s disgusting.”

The heat on your cheeks only intensified under his close gaze. His eyes met yours as he studied your expression, though he only held your gaze for a moment before turning away with an entirely superficial eye roll. “Look at you, making me wipe your tears like some kind of lovesick idiot.” 

This was your turn to give him an almost entirely superficial eye roll of your own. “It’s only fair, _you’re_ the one who made me cry.” 

He scoffed in return, but his sly smile didn’t hold the same condescending scorn it did when he used it against others. This one held genuine amusement and, dare you say, affinity? 

Tossing the now folded up tissue in the dusty library trash can, he placed his hand at the small of your back, coaxing you towards the door. “Come on, apparently we have an investigation to attend to.”


End file.
